THANKFUL

Friday, June 10, 2022

Lord, I want to live a blameless life before You, but try as I may, even with Your Holy Spirit’s influence, at times I still struggle with issues that keep me from a blameless life. If only I could be spiritually strong like the saints of old.  Despite their circumstances, surely they lived blameless lives. You are gonna help me, aren’t You, Lord? (Psalm 101:2).

Scripture reveals the truth that no saints of old, or present, or future—no one who is human— lives blameless. The Apostle Paul wrote extensively on this subject. “It happens so regularly that it’s predictable,” Paul wrote to the Romans. “The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.”

Paul described his frustration. “I’ve tried everything — nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?”

He echoed the psalmist plea, “You are gonna help me, aren’t You Lord?”

“The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does!” Paul answered his own question. “He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but I am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different,” (Romans 7:21–23 MSG).

Oh, how that describes me. But for all Christ-followers, You see us as blameless because we’ve trusted that Jesus paid for our sins. We are so thankful there is nothing wrong with Your eyesight, Lord.